He remembers
by Sallis
Summary: He remembers, and he thinks, and he pondered about his past, future and present, contrary to popular belief. He thought so much that it was getting hard to sleep. Sakura comes in at the oddest time of the night. SasuSaku.


Sasuke lied down on the hospital bed with his eyes open. Or at least he felt like they were open. He could only see darkness due to the bandage wrapped around his eyes. After the last battle against Tobi which he fought, daresay, alongside his rival-cum-best-friend Naruto, he had overused his Sharingan eyes. What with squeezing in so many of his clan's jutsus in such a short amount of time. He listed in his head; the _Mangekyou_, _Amaterasu_, _Susanoo_—oh, he particularly loved this one—and of course the last one he had managed to use and share with his resurrected dead brother, Itachi, in the last few moments, the _Izanami_. His journey through his childhood, adolescent years and now early adulthood, had been nothing short of stressful and passionate anger, even if he did admit himself. He wondered what the future held for him now that he was back in Konoha. He wondered; would he be accepted as a Konoha shinobi once again? Did he want to be a Konoha shinobi anyway—after everything he pulled to achieve his goals? Would he be awarded for killing off an S-rank nukenin, his very own older brother, like how he overheard some of the local ninjas said that day? No, he would not accept even if he was offered. The thought of this enraged him.

He turned to his side for a more comfortable position.

Or, would he be punished for all his wrong doings against the village he used to call home? He knew of his status as an S-rank criminal. One justice he served in the Fourth Shinobi War shouldn't justify all of his previous crimes. He sighed. With so many things clouding his mind, he doubted that he would be able to sleep tonight.

Sasuke tried not to think about the last few moments—or rather—his second chance with his resurrected brother. When they first fought _together_ (not _against_), years after the infamous Uchiha massacre, he felt an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. He felt like he had his older brother back. On nights like this one, he would lie awake and wonder if the Uchiha massacre never happened—if Itachi was never instructed to, of course— how different would his life be? He imagined all of the instances where he would be happily working for the police department like his father, or better yet, as an ANBU just like Itachi. He stretched his arms above his head. But then again, would he be able to be as strong as he is today without the motivation of hatred instilled by his brother? Or would he strive on competition, always trying to outdo Itachi? He suddenly felt an overwhelming pang of regret. Regret that slowly turned into anger. If only he knew what was going on in the first place. If only—No. He had to stop this train of thought from going any further. Tsunade had warned him that stress would not bring any good to his recovery, and he was sure as hell that he wanted to get out of this hospital as soon as possible. He never did like being in the hospital, feeling sick. But then again, who does? He felt restless and most of all, helpless. The faster he fell asleep, the faster the morning comes and the closer it gets to the day when he can finally be rid of this place.

He tried his best to count to 10 and silently contained his anger, his sadness, his mourning loss, his _regrets_.

_Eight.. Nine.. Ten. _

He drew in deeper breaths, in hope that it would help him meditate. It was the only way he knew to stay clam and collected. He had learned through mistakes that when his anger takes over, no matter how brilliant of a shinobi he is, he would make rash decisions.

His mind recollected the times when he nearly murdered his old teammate, Sakura—twice—in a fit of rage. Although, they managed to talk during and after the war, exchanging a few short phrases in the midst of all the chaos, he would admit that though it seemed pointless at that time, he really did appreciate the familiarity surrounding him. To think she not so much as flinched when they spoke while she was healing his flesh wounds, made him feel that he had a slight chance in redeeming himself. Not that he would bother proving or redeeming himself to the whole public of the Konoha village, his team was enough. As surprising as this was going to sound, he really did reminisce the good old days when they were still doing D and C-rank missions together while he was training at Sound.

Boy, they never did saw anything this disastrous in store for their future, did they? He knew for sure that Sakura never did. He chuckled silently. That girl, as far back as he could remember, only had a miniscule goal of winning his attention. He always found it ridiculous. However, his mind brought him to the times she was there by his side, whether it was tending to his injuries, helping him walk after the crazy event at the Forest of Death, bravely (_yet foolishly_, he insisted) consoling him while he was in the midst of the Curse Seal activation. He was also genuinely puzzled as to how Sakura knew of his plans to leave Konoha that fateful night. He never did show any sign. He also recalled always having the need to protect her. All the time. That girl was incapable of holding her own against anyone but her not-so-intimidating-rival (in his opinion), Ino.

He must readily admit though, seeing her in the battlefield of the Fourth War spiked a new interest in him. She was an efficient medic-nin, no doubt—he had personally heard from Kabuto that Sakura was under the training of a Legendary Sannin, Tsunade, as well. Due to her perfect chakra control, he had no doubt she would excel in this, but to see her Herculean strength (a very strong reminiscent of Tsunade) on the battlefield first-hand, he was honestly—impressed. Even if she might not be up to par with himself or Naruto—_yet_ (he kept that in mind), to see her improve and have a specific talent of her own, he couldn't stop himself from feeling the tiniest bit proud. He remembered the time he had heard a gossip spreading around that a pink-haired kunoichi that defeated Sasori of the Sand that left him to recount the number of people he knew or have seen other than Sakura that had pink hair. He couldn't remember, though it wasn't like he knew many people anyway. At least now she did not have to rely on anyone so much anymore.

Just then he felt a presence just outside of his room. He heard the door creak open ever so carefully as to not create too much noise. He then heard the door close very gently. Then, a whiff of faint vanilla scent mixed with the sterile scent of hand sanitizers. Speak of the devil.

He knew who it was, but speculated on what she was doing in his room in the wee hours of the night (or morning. He didn't know the time specifically). His body relaxed and his breath grew steady, mimicking someone asleep. He shifted to his other side so that his back faced the said pink-haired medic nin.

For a few minutes, there was silence. Little did he know that Sakura was standing over him, watching how well he slept. She knew he was faking it and gave a small smile. She shed her white medic robe and hung it on the railing at the foot of the bed. She stretched her limbs and gave out a small yawn that ended with a soft sigh. She had pulled yet another 12-hour shift that day because she wanted to be there to take care and watch over her two teammates. Her boys. Now that Naruto had been discharged with only a broken arm that morning (thanks to his kyuubi's chakra that sped up the healing process) she only needed to tend to Sasuke now. Sasuke's case was a little different. Despite miraculous recovery physically, Sasuke's eyes needed extra attention. Besides, releasing him from the hospital half blind would do nothing good.

She brought a hand close to Sasuke's forehead and moved his dishevelled locks away and found that he flinched at her sudden contact, giving away that he was still not asleep. She decided to let it go. Sakura took off the rubber band that tied her loose short pony tail and retied her hair into a neat bun. She tucked her platinum light pink fringe behind her ear and looked for a place to sit but could find none. Someone must have brought the visitor's chair out. Too lazy to look for it, she then proceeded to sit on Sasuke's empty side of the bed. All she could think of, all she could feel, was the dreadful fatigue from that day's work. Sure she was the least injured, but she guessed that even she still hasn't fully recovered herself to be working full-time yet.

The next thing Sasuke felt was a sudden shift in the mattress as Sakura sat on the edge of his bed, then gently lied down next to him. There was still a lot of space between them. The hospital's super single bed had plenty of room. He could only speculate what this girl he used to call annoying, is up to. He heard yet another sigh from the tired kunoichi beside him. This time, he decided to speak up.

"Is this a professional thing to do, Sakura?"

Sakura was taken aback by his somewhat accusing question/ statement. She flinched and turned to look at him.

"You're a staff here, are you not?" he inquired again half amused at the fact that he was sharing a bed with a girl. Well, it was much better than sharing a bed with a certain blonde loudmouth.

"Yes." Sakura replied stiffly.

"Hn?"

"Yes, I'm a staff here. But I'm also your friend, therefore, I am also your _visitor_," Sakura beamed. "Think of me as a friend visiting and spending the night here accompanying you. So no need for formalities right now, I'm not even wearing my uniform."

Sasuke could almost feel her mischievous grin beaming his way from the way her voice sounded.

He smirked to himself. She was a lot bolder to him now. But he doubted that _everything_ about _his_ old Sakura changed. He searched in his memories on what the younger Sakura would do or say if he made such a remark. He settled for a conclusion that she would probably have jumped out of the bed by now.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Sasuke, I am so tired! Can't I just lay down here for a bit?" she whined in exasperation. She placed her hands on her stomach.

As he searched for a sense of familiarity in the new Sakura, he found it in the way that she would 'ever so gently' _whined_. Her voice was soft as she whined or complained during their trips for missions, especially when Naruto was around. She and Naruto would even go as far as complete each others sentences while complaining. Kakashi once told him that he was glad that at least now Sakura and Naruto had something in common to share—however annoying the circumstance. He had always found it annoying but he was particularly astonished at how he much missed that usually irking sound.

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment and tried to think of nothing. She took deep breaths now. She wasn't planning to sleep there but she was so, so tired. A nap wouldn't hurt, would it? She felt a somewhat slow shift on the bed. Sasuke was tossing and turning in his blanket. She wondered if he felt uncomfortable. Was it the bed, or was it her? She opened one eye and looked to her right. Sasuke was now lying straight on his back. One hand on his forehead and the other on his stomach. She remembered this particular sleeping position of him and recalled her much younger Sasuke, boyish and ambitious. She's willing to bet that he still was, under all that stoic and creepily calm composure. By the (obvious) looks of it, Sasuke had grown up to be an adult that was—she giggled at the thought— very handsome. His facial features were sharp, skin pale and translucent. The only flaw was his always cold and negative expressions, but even his default scowl graced his face in the most beautiful way.

Sasuke slowly sat up. After much thinking and scavenging his memories of Team 7 in their genin days (heck, _some_ of them still are), he said, "Well, if you're going stay here tonight—", he stops abruptly. Sakura watches over, puzzled by his gesture. He leaned down to the side of the bed to grab something under it and pulled out a neatly folded sheet of cloth—the extra blanket, she remembered. She had put it there just in case he got cold and the hospital blanket wasn't providing enough warmth.

"Here," he said as he tossed the blanket to her. Sakura caught it effortlessly, puzzled.

"We're not sharing my blanket," he stated as-matter-of-factly. Sakura couldn't help but grimaced at his lack of selflessness. She rolled her eyes, a bit offended by his statement. Team 7, back when they were 13, had travelled on missions all the time, so it wasn't odd to have them sharing a room together. She found it weird at first, being the only girl in the room. Her mother, an old fashioned lady found it down right inappropriate, but she trusted that the sensei and her teammates would not harm her but protect her with all their might. Sometimes, Kakashi would let her have a room by herself, if the place they were staying at wasn't so expensive. Shinobis don't strive for a very luxurious life, Kakashi said. They had to be practical. That wasn't the point, Sakura shook her head. On the nights that they spent sleeping in the same empty square room together, on some occasions, they had shared blankets, even pillows together. What made it different now? Sakura weighed out the fact that maybe the night was just too cold.

"Because if I could remember correctly," he continued suddenly. "When we were younger, you were the _blanket-hogger_."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise to have found out that Sasuke was probably recalling a similar event as her. She was also startled at Sasuke's sheer accusation.

"Blanket-hogger? _Please_. That was Naruto!" Sakura said defensively. She crossed her arms, sulking. Old Sakura.

Sasuke turned to his side, facing her. She could feel him looking at her, despite having his eyes covered, as if studying her so distinctively. It was creepy, honestly. Sakura sat up as she spread the blanket to cover herself and brought the cloth right up to her chin.

"No, no I remember perfectly, Sakura," he chuckled. How dare he! She wanted to wipe off that sneer off his face right there and then. Sakura thought, but decided to give up the act. Yes, she had been accused of the same thing the morning after her sleepover at Ino's. She didn't know whether to feel insulted or flattered for his distinctive memory of her. It's nice to know that he remembers and thinks of her.

"Okay, okay. It was me," Sakura put her hands up as if surrendering to an arrest. She couldn't help but giggle, for flattery and for sheer embarrassment.

"But then again, Naruto never really needed a blanket to begin with," she rambled. "He was always sweating so much!"

She was pleasantly surprised to hear a genuine laughter from Sasuke. _Shannaro! I made him laugh!_

She laughed too. At her shocking share of thoughts with Sasuke, at Naruto's never ending antics, at Sasuke's laugh, at the almost wide smile he was wearing.

When his gentle laughter ended, she heard a soft sigh. He resumed his usual sleeping position—lying straight on his back, right hand resting on his forehead while the other on his stomach.

They were sharing a pillow. The pillow wasn't fluffy or big, but comfortable. Very, very comfortable, Sakura thought.

"_Oyasumi_."

"_Oyasumi nasai_, Sasuke-kun."

A nostalgic sense of calm and warmth surrounded him that night, making it one of the best sleep he has to yet enjoy since he came back. It's been a while since he slept that well. Having friends weren't bad at all, he had to admit. And though he was and had always been closer to Naruto, having shared similar background with the blonde _idiot_ (he preferred to call him), having Sakura by his side was actually pleasant. And she cared for him, genuinely. He knew that. Not the same infatuation he knew of during their Academy years. And he cared for her, too. He knew that and hoped she knew that too.

* * *

A/N: Hey! I've been struggling to finish this one for days now, I don't know why I just couldn't stay focused! Forgive me for Sasuke's slight OOC-ness. I just figured that deep inside, Sasuke's just a normal human, really. It's impossible to conclude that he doesn't think of the memories he had for Team 7 occasionally, right? I really hope this one's good enough for you! Reviews would be much appreciated, thank you!


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